Economic growth in Africa, but democracy stumbles; Mauritius first of 53 African countries

[pampango]

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/101006/economy-democracy

While most African economies are improving, the continent's democracies are not. In addition to scoring healthy economic growth, averaging 5 percent in 2010, African citizens are generally healthier than they were five years ago.

But these gains are at risk because of a slide in the quality of governance across Africa, particularly in the areas of security and rule of law, warned the 2010 Ibrahim Index of African Governance.

The annual index, which scores countries on a scale of 0 to 100, is published by the foundation of Sudan-born British telecommunications billionaire Mo Ibrahim. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation also awards an annual African leadership prize, worth $5 million, that has not been given the last two years because of a lack of a suitable candidate.

Mauritius again tops the list as the best-governed of Africa’s 53 countries, with a score of 82 out of 100. Seychelles, Botswana, Cape Verde and South Africa also remain in the top five of best governed countries. Rounding out the top 10 are Namibia, Ghana, Tunisia, Lesotho and Egypt.

At the bottom are Eritrea, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Somalia, which scored just 8 of 100.

Angola, Liberia and Togo all saw significant improvements in overall government quality. Liberia, in particular, was singled out for its all-around gains under the direction of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Better-governed countries have a more rapid drop in child mortality, according to Paul Collier, professor of economics at Oxford University, who compared child mortality figures to governance as measured by the Ibrahim index.

“The effect is big,” he wrote in an article accompanying the report. “The difference between a governance score of 40 and one of 70 is associated with an extra decline in under-5 child mortality of 23 per 1,000.”